Winter storm warning: 10-16 inches of snow in the Poconos Friday

Blizzard warnings have been issued for New York City and Boston. The Poconos will be getting 10 to 16 inches of snow, according to the National Weather Service.

The National Weather Service has posted blizzard warnings for New York City and its suburbs, Boston, much of lower New England, and parts of New Jersey.

The storm is expected to dump up to 2 feet of snow in places, with the heaviest amounts falling Friday night into Saturday.

In the Poconos, 10 to 16 inches are expected from 6 a.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Saturday.

The snow is supposed to start around 2 a.m. on Friday and continue through the day. The heaviest snow is set to fall on Friday night, with precipitation tapering off into Saturday.

The National Weather Service is telling motorists to expect “treacherous” road conditions and to expect major travel delays late Friday afternoon into Friday night.

Local power companies, for their part, say that they are ready if major outages should occur.

FirstEnergy, Met-Ed’s parent company, sent out a statement on Thursday saying that extra crews from several other states are prepared to come to Pennsylvania and help with the power restoration process if need be.

Proactive mobilization of additional linemen, vehicles and supplies from other FirstEnergy utilities will help speed the restoration process if the snow and winds damage our equipment and cause service interruptions,” said Doug Elliott, president of FirstEnergy’s Pennsylvania operations.

Over in Pike County, O&R, the parent of Pike County Power and Light, also says it’s ready for the coming snowstorm. It said it will be working “24/7” to try to get its customers’ power back on if the lights go out. The company has declared a company-wide storm watch.

In recent years, both rain and snow storms have wreaked havoc on the Poconos, causing widespread power outages that sometimes last for days. The power companies in the last year or so have really stepped up their efforts to mitigate all the power-related problems that inclement weather tends to cause.

Though we here in the Poconos are set to get pounded by the snow, it’s going to be even worse in other places. Coastal areas are expected to get 16 to 24 inches of snow, and upwards of 30 inches are expected in southeastern New England, says Ben Gelber, an NBC meteorologist and Pocono weather expert.